By MAJOR SINGH THINDMajor Singh Thind is a member of the moderate group re-elected for a three-year term during the Khalsa Diwan Society (8000 Ross Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) elections held on December 18, 2004. Thind was re-elected for the third term as recording secretary alongwith Gurdip Singh Gill (of Hoshiarpur) as president.

My phupha (aunt's husband), who lived in the Bexley (Kent) area, passed away on January 18, 2005. I went to attend his funeral. My cousins had decided that the body will be taken directly to the funeral home without a stop over at the local gurdwara. To my surprise, the gurdwara management team asked us to take a rumala (small pieces of cloth used to cover the Guru Granth) to cover the body. I was told that when the body of a deceased arrives at the gurdwara it is covered by a rumala to be burnt along with the body.

I discussed the above with my family. My cousins asked me to tell the gurdwara officials that we don't want to cover the body with a rumala as it is not a requirement in our religion. There is nothing in the Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) about this tradition. I was told that they have a surplus of rumalas and this is the best way to get rid of them. I told the management team about our decision - that, we feel, it is disrespectful to our Guru to cover a dead body with our Guru's poshak (clothing) - and told them to hold a funeral with respect for the surplus rumalas in the gurdwara backyard.